In a telephone network, cables containing numerous telephone lines from a telephone service provider's central office enter a building through a junction box or a building entrance protector. Telephone lines, each representing a separate telephone number, are then connected and distributed at the junction box to different locations within the building.
A junction box contains a plurality of terminals, each having a head end and a tail end, with the head ends of the terminals connected to conductors leading to different locations within the building and the tail ends of the terminals connected to conductors from the telephone service provider's central office. Telephone lines from the telephone service provider are typically wire-wrapped to the tail ends of the terminals.
Generally, different locations of a building are provided with different telephone numbers. Hence, the tail end of each terminal is connected to a telephone line representing one telephone number and the head end of each terminal is connected to a specific location. However, there are instances where it is desirable to have the same telephone number appearing at two different locations within the building. In order to achieve this result, the tail ends of the two terminals, which lead to the two different locations, must be connected to each other.
A method of connecting the tail ends of two terminals is to wire-wrap each of two ends of a wire to the respective tail ends of the terminals. One of the disadvantages of this method is the requirement that a special wire wrapping tool be used to produce reliable connections. Another disadvantage is the use of additional wires in a junction box already cluttered with numerous wires. Furthermore, wire wrap connections are time consuming and costly.
A prior art device overcame the disadvantages of the wire-wrapped method mentioned above by utilizing an electrically conductive clip to bridge the connections. The prior art bridging clip is designed to make contact with the tail ends of two adjacent terminals when forced upon the tail ends of the terminals. The prior art clip makes two contact points upon the tail end of each terminal. To ensure contact of the two terminals, the prior art clip contains a notch, which allows independent engagement of the two terminals. One of the disadvantages of the prior art clip is insufficient electrical contacts with the terminals when the tail ends of the terminals are dirty or corroded. Another disadvantage is the inability to maintain good contact when the terminals have wire wrap connection on the tail ends, which prevents full insertion of the clip.
Therefore, there is a need for an invention that provides a bridging clip for connecting the tail ends of adjacent terminals having wire wrap connection to achieve simultaneous and positive contacts between the clip and both the tail ends and the corresponding wire wrap connections of the terminals.